


i'd fly away on this pair of wings with you

by reinashards



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pilots, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Minor Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan, Pilot! Jihoon, Pilot! Soonyoung
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26406304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reinashards/pseuds/reinashards
Summary: In Soonyoung’s life, he held a few great loves close to his heart. His unshaken adoration for his family and friends. His unrivaled fondness for aviation, so much so that he’d made a career out of it. And last but certainly not the least, his unbridled passion to secure Jihoon's happiness in any and all ways. Yes, it's safe to say that he'd fallen head over heels for his co-pilot. Not smart, considering Jihoon had never shown any signs that he saw Soonyoung as anything more than a mere colleague, let alone a potential candidate for a boyfriend. But the heart wants what it wants and all that bull and so, Soonyoung was shackled with a fact that he's in love with someone unattainable.Life truly sucked."You need to confess to my best friend that you're irreconcilably in love with him and want to be boyfriends, pronto."(Or the one where Captain Kwon Soonyoung is in love with Senior First Officer Lee Jihoon.)
Relationships: Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 12
Kudos: 177





	i'd fly away on this pair of wings with you

**Author's Note:**

> Fiction title is from Justin Timberlake's Not A Bad Thing and the lyric excerpts are from said song.
> 
> ***Aesthetic moodboard on [twt](https://twitter.com/reireiwrites/status/1304403348796260354?s=20)  
> **Captain's script is based on [this](https://www.englishclub.com/english-for-work/airline-announcements.htm).
> 
>  **Ranks of pilots go like this;**  
>  Training Captain (4-stripes)  
> Captain (4-stripes)  
> Senior First Officer (3-stripes)  
> First Officer (3-stripes)  
> Second Officer (2-stripes)  
> Cadet/Trainee (1-stripe)

****

**Said all I want from you is to see you tomorrow, and every tomorrow, maybe you'll let me borrow your heart?**  
**And is it too much to ask for every Sunday? And while we're at it, throw in every other day to start. — Justin Timberlake  
**

"Good afternoon passengers. This is your Captain speaking. First, I'd like to welcome everyone on Korean Air Flight A380. We are currently cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet at an airspeed of 450 miles per hour. The time is 4:21 pm. The weather looks good and with the tailwind on our side, we are expecting to land in Seoul approximately fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. The weather in Seoul..." 

Captain Kwon Soonyoung, the pilot in command of the Airbus aircraft, ended his introductory speech with a wide smile on his face despite knowing that none of his passengers can see him. To his right, Senior First Officer Lee Jihoon was busy monitoring the panel of instruments and jotting down additional notes on the flight report. By now, after a combined total of 1,650 flight hours under their belt, the Kwon-Lee combo was an indisputable pair. No other team could ever hope to achieve their level of perfection and teamwork. They even had their own lingo, making it extremely hard when a particular flight route called for a team of three instead of their normal two. But no matter, it's worthwhile to notice that they were fast becoming a legend in their own rights. Even the airline was content to fix their work schedules in a way that ninety-percent of the time, they would be flying together. 

"So Hoonie, when we touchdown, do you want to grab a drink with me?" Soonyoung asked, eyes still trained on the clouds right ahead. 

Besides him, there’s a sharp intake of breath. “Soonyoung,” Jihoon started reluctantly. Oh no, Soonyoung could already feel the brutal sting of rejection clouding his heart. Fricking ouch. “We’ve been in this cockpit for close to thirteen hours. All I want to do when we land is to hail a cab to get me straight home, take a hot shower, collapse on my comfortable bed which I dearly missed and hopefully, not resurface for the next twelve hours.” 

That made sense. Despite being seasoned flyers, the long-haul flight from New York to Seoul was still a challenge. Nevertheless, disappointment was still a bitter pill to swallow. “Oh, right.” 

Awkwardness settled in until—

"Perhaps—” A hesitant pause. “—another day?" 

“Okay!” Soonyoung internally winced at his too-eager response. He cleared his throat, embarrassed. “That sounds great.” He ended lamely. 

Jihoon smiled softly. “It's a promise then.” He murmured thereafter. 

\--- 

In Soonyoung’s life, he held a few great loves close to his heart. His unshaken adoration for his family and friends. His unrivaled fondness for aviation, so much so that he’d made a career out of it. And last but certainly not the least, his unbridled passion to secure Jihoon's happiness in any and all ways. Yes, it's safe to say that he'd fallen head over heels for his co-pilot. Not smart, considering Jihoon had never shown any signs that he saw Soonyoung as anything more than a mere colleague, let alone a potential candidate for a boyfriend. But the heart wants what it wants and all that bull and so, Soonyoung was shackled with a fact that he's in love with someone unattainable.

Life truly sucked.

"You need to confess to my best friend that you're irreconcilably in love with him and want to be boyfriends, pronto."

Soonyoung looked up from his cup of stale coffee and pouted. Choi Seungcheol, a fellow Captain and graduand of the same cohort, gazed at him with a pitying smile as he took a seat opposite of him. The employee lounge was void of its usual bustle and noise since it's one on a Tuesday's morning. There's an obvious lack of Jihoon sitting by his side because for the first time in two weeks, he's slated to be on a flight without his go-to partner. He's supposed to fly to Singapore in an hour's time whereas Jihoon would be on a separate flight to Frankfurt in the evening. By then, they would be on different continents and more than 6,000 miles apart.

"You already know why I can't, hyung." He sighed as he took a sip of his drink and almost choked at the cold bitterness of it.

With Jihoon, he didn't even know where it all began.

It could be on their first meet and subsequent flight together. Even though Jihoon was just a Second Officer back then, it didn't take long for Soonyoung to realize that he's a force to be reckoned with. Jihoon embodied professionalism and competitive spirit to the fullest. If not for the two stripes on Jihoon's uniform as compared to his own four, Soonyoung would have mistakenly believed he's of the same rank as him. Or it could be during Jihoon's commemoration from a Second to First Officer. In the world of aviation, the step-up was nothing major but Soonyoung knew it would take Jihoon one step closer to becoming a Captain. Soonyoung was definitely not the first to relay his congratulations to Jihoon (Seungcheol had the honor of doing so) but he's the first Captain that Jihoon flew with on his maiden flight as a First Officer. Jihoon's blinding, prideful smile when he entered the cockpit that day was indescribable. Or it could be that one night when they're forced to share a bed because the airline got their bookings mixed up and all that's left was a room with a single king-bed. He remembered how his heart went ba-dum-dum all night long.  


Regardless, the end result was the same. As cliché as it might sound, Soonyoung wholeheartedly lost his heart to his co-pilot.

"But you won't know unless you give it a try." Seungcheol said wisely.

Just when Soonyoung's about to answer, someone familiar walked into the lounge. Right then and there, a brilliant idea struck him. "How about this?" He said cheekily. "I will confess to my crush if you do the same to yours."

Seungcheol frowned, unable to comprehend. "What—"

"Morning." The gentle, warm voice of Captain Yoon Jeonghan reached their ears.

Soonyoung then watched with glee as Seungcheol started to fumble and panic just because his crush was within walking distance of him. See, if Jihoon was as expressive about _anything_ as Seungcheol was about Jeonghan, it would be a lot easier for Soonyoung to figure out if him confessing would elicit a positive or negative response from Jihoon. But as it was, Jihoon was expressionless in most times that it's hard to predict how he might feel about Soonyoung. One thing's for sure, he's not willing to risk his friendship with Jihoon just for a slim chance that the other man might feel the same way as he did. _No matter how much it hurt to have Jihoon so close and yet so far._

Like he said, life truly sucked.

\--- 

Fast forward to three months later, and Soonyoung eventually got the answer he's been seeking for.

And it shattered his heart into a million, unrecognizable pieces.

"Isn't that Jihoon-hyung?"

Soonyoung was out and about on a Friday's night. It's the first weekend in what seemed like forever that he'd no flights to operate and was off-the-rotation. He wanted to kick it off with a blast and so, agreed to a night-out with some of the loudest people he'd ever known. Second Officer Lee Seokmin was the one who spotted Jihoon first but it was Boo Seungkwan, a trainee pilot attached to their airline, who spoke out. Soonyoung remembered extending an invite to Jihoon (since he was on the same roster as him) but was politely rejected because the other man had something important to attend to. The group of three descended into silence as they watched the person-in-question briefly hugged an unknown male and struck up a conversation with him. It's important to note that the stranger was ridiculously tall (why did anyone need that much height for?), had a classically handsome face and beautiful to boot.  


But most, most importantly, he'd never seen Jihoon smiling that brightly at anyone before. Including himself.

"Wow, I didn't know Jihoon-hyung is dating someone." Seungkwan continued on, oblivious to Soonyoung's pain, but a sharp smack had him groaning. " _O wie!_ What's that for?" He glared at Seokmin.

But Seokmin's attention was wholly on the eldest of them three. "Maybe he's just a friend, hyung." He said softly.

Realizing his mistake, Seungkwan backtracked. "Or a close acquaintance." He offered unhelpfully.

"I'm just going to go home." Soonyoung said quietly.

And that's that.

Because Soonyoung was nothing but a professional (and he's really damn good at what he does as a living), the next time he found himself in the cockpit with Jihoon, he greeted his co-pilot with a cheerful smile. It's not Jihoon's fault, really. It's never in the manual that Jihoon had to fall for him just because he did. "Did you have a good break, Hoonie?"

A shy smile graced his lips as he fleetingly glanced down at his hands before back at Soonyoung's face. "I'd the greatest time." He said softly. "What about you?"

 _I cried myself to sleep on the night I saw you in someone else's arms and didn't get out of bed for anything but refills of ice-cream and toilet breaks._ "Me too. Ready to start?"

As Jihoon started to read aloud the itemized checklist prior to takeoff, Soonyoung carefully examined his own set of controls and instruments. Now's not the time to shatter over missed opportunities and broken heart. He got a flight to pilot and by God, he intended to do it well. 683 lives depended on him to fly them safely across the ocean and to their destination. His job will not end until the wheels of this aircraft landed on the tarmac of the destination country's landing strip. He's still the Captain, after all.

\--- 

Thenceforth, Soonyoung began to respectfully keep his distance. Don't get him wrong, Jihoon was still a beloved colleague and an even more precious friend but Soonyoung now bore no delusions of grandeur that they could be more than friends. Jihoon's clearly interested in someone else and Soonyoung's not the kind of man who would pursue someone who's not the least interested in him romantically. And if there were times when his roster included new assignments which would purposefully be in direct conflict with Jihoon's, instead of asking for a reshuffling like he used to do, he would accept them without a moment's thought. Because when push came to shove, distance was still the best healing antidote for a broken heart. But even so, he's miserable in those flights. The sky wasn't the same without Lee Jihoon by his side. Jihoon was never a boisterous, loud man to start with but the cockpit was unbearably too quiet without him. 

It's painful to admit it but he missed those good old days when there was nothing but them and the great, blue sky.

\--- 

"Why are you avoiding me?"

Just when he was about to clock-in for his next flight to Dubai, he was stopped by an intimidating presence. Uh oh, Jihoon's mad. That's never a good thing. He nervously swallowed his saliva as he tried to scramble for a believable reason why he's doing just that. But despite being an experienced pilot who responded expertly well under pressure, he's not able to this time around. "What are you talking about?" Panicked by the surprised question, Soonyoung vehemently tried to deny it. By saying something dumb. Very, very dumb. "Pft, that's ridiculous! Why would I avoid you? You're my friend. My really precious friend. Heh."

Jihoon raised his eyebrow. "Alright, prove it to me then. Take me out for that drink you promised me."

"But I have a flight to get to." Phew, thank God for his lovable job.

"I'm talking about _after_ your return to Seoul." Jihoon said smartly. "I've checked. We would be on leave for at least two days next week."

Oh bollocks, now what? While he would always clamor to spend any amount of time with Jihoon, he's not really feeling it these days. It could probably be due to his broken heart. "Uhm well, I'm really not sure if I could because there's that _thing_ I've to go to."

"You're really a shitty liar, Youngie."

"Hey!" Soonyoung rebuffed. It's true, he was but the other man didn't have to say it like that.

A sigh. And then, "Did I do something wrong?" Jihoon asked. "If I did, then I'm sorry, okay? I never meant to hurt you."

 _Too late. You broke my heart, even if it's not your fault._ "Hoonie..."

"Go on a date with me."

"Yeah alright, just...wait, _what?_ What did you just say?" Soonyoung shrieked.

Jihoon grinned. "Kwon Soonyoung, I like you a lot. In fact, I think I'm a little bit in love with you. So, would you go on a date with me? Pretty please?"

"But don't you have a boyfriend?"

Jihoon frowned. "I do?"

"Yes! I saw you hugging someone else the other day in town. Isn't he uhm...your boyfriend?"

"Hugging someone else...?" Suddenly, the frown turned to an unbelievable look. "Kwon Soonyoung, is that the reason why you've been avoiding me?"

"Maybe?"

"You foolish man, he's my childhood friend! Wonwoo is a private pilot and he's been wondering what it would be like to fly for a commercial airline. I met him the other day to talk about it. It's purely business, there's no romantic feelings involved, I swear."

"Oh. So you don't have a boyfriend?" Soonyoung pressed.

"Depends. Do you want to be mine?"

Somewhat, Soonyoung didn't care that they were in the middle of the company's hallway where people were still passing through back and forth. Soonyoung inched closer to Jihoon, elated to know that he can do this, that he's allowed to as he took Jihoon's hands into his. His thumbs unconsciously traced the other man's knuckles as he stared deep into his love's irises. He's so, so in love with Jihoon. Sometimes, it felt like he's brimming with so much love for Jihoon that he's afraid it would overflow and sweep everyone along with it.

"Absolutely." He breathed out before leaning in to press a kiss against those cherry-red lips.

\--- 

One year into their relationship, after brilliantly passing numerous written and practical tests, Jihoon was promoted to the next rank; a _Captain._ The elevated promotion was a testament to Jihoon's late nights and several nervous breakdowns. When Jihoon traded his 3-stripes epaulette with a 4-stripes one, Soonyoung actually teared up a little bit. And even though it meant the end of Kwon-Lee era (Jihoon's being a Captain only meant he would be commandeering his own flights from this point onward), no one was as proud of Jihoon's achievements as he was. And he knew that no matter how many turbulences he might encounter in the future or how rough they could be, he's not alone. He'd his very own co-(life) pilot and he's not intending of letting that one go anytime soon.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not going to pretend to know anything about the aviation industry so pardon any mistakes in this piece. I tried to Google as much as I could while writing this. I wrote this in a single sitting because I've been wanting to do pilots! soonhoon since those pictures came out.


End file.
